He had arrived on the Knight Bus, and when it was time to head back, William chose the Knight Bus again.
There was no other way; it was simply the fastest.
Perhaps it was because he was a bit tired after wandering around for so long, but the riding experience this time wasn’t as good as the one in the morning.
Just as he returned home, a “ding-ding” sound echoed in his mind; his System had returned from its travels again.
Without hesitation, William summoned the System and saw the little guy catching up on sleep again.
“Tsk, you changed your skin pretty quickly.”
Muttering to himself, William didn’t disturb the System and went straight to find the gift and open it.
[Gift: Memory Labyrinth]
[Details: Uses insignificant memories as material to construct a labyrinth to protect important memories.
The more memories there are, the larger the labyrinth becomes.]
[Pet’s Message: Not as useful as the System.
With the System here, no one can see your memories.]
William:…Well, he had indeed worried about the possibility of being subjected to Legilimency by the Old Bee once he entered school, but that was just a worry; as long as he kept a low profile, he should be safe.
But now, he could use it as double insurance.
Immediately taking out the gift, William began to learn it.
To his surprise, this time it was a form of indoctrination-style learning.
After he chose to take it out, a wave of cool sensation flashed through him, and his past memories surged out like a geyser; even those he couldn’t remember clearly became vivid at this moment.
Following his thoughts, the memories began to be categorized: the important ones were preserved, while the useless ones were turned into materials to build the labyrinth.
Before long, a labyrinth was formed, and new materials were generated every moment to expand it.
William snapped back to his senses and checked the time, only to find that just a few seconds had passed.
Thinking back to those memories that had appeared which he was about to forget, William felt that this labyrinth could perhaps also serve as his local database.
To put it simply, he could read books from the Hogwarts Library and store the reading memories in his mind.
magic was too profound; to continuously improve, one needed to study extensively.
In the wizarding world, knowledge was precious.
To obtain a large amount of knowledge for free, one could only access free books during their time at school.
Thinking this way, William took a book out of his carry-on bag and flipped through a few pages roughly and quickly.
After closing the book, when William tried to recall the content he had just read, he couldn’t remember much.
However, when he focused his mind on the Memory Labyrinth, the content he had read in his memory was crystal clear.
This could be considered a different kind of photographic memory.
With this thought, William read through several other books.
By the time the memory contents of the books were stored, it was already late at night.
This resulted in him dreaming about the content he had memorized after he fell asleep.
Forced to review all night, he looked a bit haggard when he opened his eyes again.
But this wasn’t without benefits; at the very least, he had thoroughly learned some of the content and could give answers directly without having to enter his mind to flip through memories.
“Ah~ I still need to catch up on sleep,” William muttered to himself with a yawn.
But before he could lie down again, the telephone rang loudly.
Helpless, William had to get up and go downstairs.
He picked up the phone, and Hermione’s haughty voice came through.
“William, how much of the textbooks have you read lately?
I just finished reading them yesterday.
The wizarding world is so magical, isn’t it?
Oh, and magic—I tried to teach myself a bit, but it really is too difficult.”
“If you want to practice the Alohomora, I think you’d better not use your own front door; that’s too dangerous.
“Of course, if you have any questions about the Alohomora, I think we could discuss them.”
William:…If he hadn’t been able to tell that she genuinely wanted to have a magical discussion with him, he would definitely have thought Hermione was showing off.
But, young lady, you’ve really asked the wrong person; when it comes to charms, he’s a genius.
Although he was praising himself…
“I already know the Alohomora.
It’s quite interesting, isn’t it?
But I feel the Reparo Charm is even more interesting; that’s the kind of spell that makes people can’t help but exclaim it’s magic.”
William’s voice was very gentle, but it made Hermione on the other end of the line bite her lip involuntarily.
“Fine, I’ll go try it.
Talk to you later.”
With that, Hermione hung up the phone and, under the eyes of The Grangers, rushed back to her room to study with renewed determination.
Hearing the busy signal on the phone, William shook his head helplessly.
Little girl, is it really necessary?
However, it might have been better if William hadn’t chuckled softly.
Just as he put the phone down, the bell rang again immediately, which gave William quite a start.
He answered the phone; this time the caller was Kyle.
“Little Bai, did you miss your daddy?”
With one sentence, he successfully ignited a nameless fire in William’s heart.
“Say what you have to say, or I’m hanging up.”
“Alright, alright.
I mailed you some local specialties a while ago; remember to sign for them, and don’t make a fuss,” Kyle’s cheerful voice came through.
William:???
“Where did you get the money?”
“Hehe, I’ll tell you when I get back.
Alright, I’ve got things to do here; let’s talk later.”
With that, William was beaten to the punch and hung up on once again.
He wanted to curse, but the person wasn’t there; cursing would be in vain.
Because of these two phone calls, what little sleepiness he had was completely gone.
So, with the intention of not staying idle, William went to try brewing a Potion.
As for danger?
Heh, what he was brewing was a beginner’s Potion that posed no danger even if things went wrong.
After some hard work, it was already afternoon.
Looking at the Potion in his hand, William was very happy.
But when he saw his hair again, that happy smile vanished.
There was no helping it; it was too greasy.
At this moment, he seemed to understand why Professor Snape always had such greasy hair.
Just as William was thinking this, the doorbell rang, making him instantly alert.
Stepping softly to the peephole, he only saw a black vehicle driving away.
After a long while, seeing that there was still no movement outside the door, he quietly opened it.
Then…
“This is the stuff Kyle mailed back?”
After a careful inspection, confirming it was safe and couldn’t fit a person, William finally dragged the things inside.
Fortunately, the delivery crew hadn’t taken the delivery trolley with them; otherwise, he would have had to rely on magic.
But when he opened the crate and saw a box full of firearms and ammunition, he rushed to the phone like the wind and called Kyle.
In the end, after Kyle repeatedly confirmed that those were the local specialties he had sent, William truly understood that Kyle had indeed inherited a substantial fortune. Enjoying the story? Read on at NovelPing.
But he didn’t think much of it; after all, he and Kyle were only father and son in name.
Besides, he wasn’t short on money himself.
Putting away the crate of firearms and ammunition, William continued to study his magic and Potions.
In the following time, Hermione called several more times to discuss their self-study progress, and Harry also had his Hedwig (Owl) deliver letters to communicate a few times.
Just like that, time flew by until the last day of August, and Kyle finally returned at the tail end of the month.
But looking at the dapper-looking Kyle, William really couldn’t associate him with the scene of their first meeting.
“Little Bai, Daddy’s back.”
Fine, this dog of a man was still the same; even a change of clothes didn’t change his nature.
When evening came, Kyle was busy cooking as before, while grumbling to William about how his luck had turned and he had become a rich man.
To put it simply, the direct line of that wealthy family had suddenly died out completely, and in the end, it all went to Kyle.
It was very illogical, but since this world even had magic, no matter how illogical it was, it seemed it could be made logical.
“Now that you have money, if you don’t want to continue our agreement, it can end at any time,” William said.
“Didn’t I tell you?
Even without the agreement, I’d still want you to be my son.
So don’t overthink it; your old man’s property will all be yours in the future,” Kyle said, putting on the act of a loving father again.
William:…The night passed in silence.
The next day, William washed up, had a simple breakfast, and was then driven to the station by Kyle.
“I originally wanted to drive the best car to take you to school, but then I thought you definitely wouldn’t like it, so I had to settle for the next best thing.”
“I thank you for that,” William couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
Settle for the next best thing?
This car wasn’t bad either.
“We’re family, no need for thanks.”
After some time, they arrived at King’s Cross Station.
Between Platforms Nine and Ten, the time for parting had come, because the entrance was enchanted with magic and ordinary people simply couldn’t pass through.
“Son, take good care of yourself.
If it doesn’t work out, just drop out.
Our family has money; you can live a comfortable life even without magic,” Kyle said.
William didn’t argue about the title after hearing it; there were too many people coming and going here.
However, to keep Kyle from taking too much advantage, William quickly gave a couple of responses and walked away quickly.
Once he found the stone pillar representing Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, he didn’t hesitate and crashed through it with his luggage.
Passing through the pillar, what appeared before William was an old-fashioned station.
Even though he had arrived as early as possible, he still saw people coming and going, various pets running around, and the occasional Owl flying overhead.
At the station, a red old-fashioned steam train was parked; this was the Hogwarts Express, 5972.
Of course, as someone who had read the original work, he knew that although this train was called an Express, it was actually quite slow.
Pushing through the crowd, William boarded the train and found an empty compartment to sit in.
As for waiting for Hermione and Harry, he had no such intention.
He didn’t want to interfere with or participate in the plot of the three of them meeting for the first time on the train.
After all, he already knew Harry and Hermione; the only one left was Ron Weasley.
He figured even if he didn’t take the initiative, Harry and Hermione would help introduce them.
“Sigh~ I don’t want to get involved, yet it’s been so coincidental that I’ve met them twice already.”
He really didn’t want to participate in the “adventure” journey of the trio.
Afterward, to avoid being disturbed by others, William took out the book “One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi” and began to read.
After an unknown amount of time, the “choo-choo” of the whistle sounded, and the motion of the train starting up pulled William away from his reading.
Looking up, boy, he actually had a whole compartment to himself…